The House-approved stop-gap spending bill to avoid an imminent government shutdown and fund operations through the end of the fiscal year won’t provide enough funding to achieve President Trump’s plans to rebuild the military, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee warned Wednesday.
Sen. Roger Wicker, Mississippi Republican, said the continuing resolution recently passed by the House Republican majority can’t make up for a real decrease in military spending. The Senate, he said, will have to push for more Pentagon spending during the reconciliation process, he said.
“This is the first year-long [continuing resolution] for the Department of Defense,” Sen. Wicker said Wednesday during a SASC readiness hearing. “We repeatedly say — House and Senate, Republican and Democrat — that we never need to do this again. For some reason, something comes up. Some group is unwilling to compromise and look at the long picture and we find ourselves in this position.”
Even with some additional funding tacked on, the stopgap bill doesn’t provide adequate money to defend against rising threats to U.S. national security from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, he said.
The bill already faces an uncertain future in the Senate and will need at least some Democratic votes to overcome an expected filibuster. Mr. Wicker said Wednesday he wouldn’t vote for the spending plan if not for the prospect of a reconciliation bill that adds $150 billion for “vital national security purposes.”
“There are budget hawks in this city and there are defense hawks in this city and we all want fiscal responsibility,” he said. “But I’m telling you, $150 billion in the reconciliation bill may not be enough based on the way we have treated over the past few years, and based on what we’re about to do this week.”
